


Looking for the castle of my heart

by SquizyBanana76



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Uncompleted
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:13:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25764217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquizyBanana76/pseuds/SquizyBanana76
Summary: First, I want to thank u/MindreaderQ1 for doing grammar and spelling checks for me!Second, a warning. This is currently a very bare bones and dialogue heavy story. I am expanding the first 9 chapters first before starting on chapter 10, so there is most likely a sudden drop in quality.AU, in the same time period that TDP itself is set in, but the war has already ended. children of the dragon guard need to spend at least a year at a human school. this is where Rayla meets Callum. Chapter 1 Callum and Rayla are 5 and 6 years old.
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 38





	1. New friends

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first ever fanfic, or story for that matter. please go hard on me with constructive criticism, i'll need all the help i can get. I'm building the story as it goes, so there isn't really an intended arc for the characters.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Her parents are part of the dragon guard, elite warriors and protector of the dragon royal family. But to better the relationship between elves and humans, the children of the dragon guard have to attend a human school for at least a year"

It was supposed to be an exciting day, being Callum’s first day at school. But the moment he stepped onto the playground he was overwhelmed by the amount of kids there. He immediately started to have an anxiety attack, so his mother, Sarai, took him in her arms and started to whisper calming words to him.

“Just breath Callum, I’m here for you. You will have to get used to this many kids someday, but why don’t I ask if you can wait inside. Maybe you could draw something?”

Callum only nodded, so Sarai took one of his hands and walked inside with him. Once inside she asked a young man if he knew where Callum’s teacher was. The man had dark hair and dark skin, with a kind but stern smile.

“Ms. Opeli is currently in discussion with the father of one of the kids, but I would probably be able to answer any questions you have, my name is Saleer.”

“I was just wondering if Callum could wait inside for a bit. He has severe social anxiety, so the playground might cause attacks until he is used to the kids in his class”

“I’m sure Ms. Opeli wouldn’t mind. But I would recommend you to stay for a bit to explain the situation to her. Let me take you the her classroom”

Sarai and Callum followed Saleer through the hallways of the school, Callum hiding behind Sarai’s legs and clutching his little bag with his drawing supplies. Once they reached the classroom Saleer said goodbye and left them to wait for Ms. Opeli. Callum took the seat closest to the door and took a sheet of paper and his charcoal stick from his little bag. He quickly forgot the world around him while a little bird started to form in front of him, all the while Sarai patiently waited next to the door.

After a few minutes she heard two people in a (by the sounds of it) serious discussion.

“-stand that even under these conditions, I’m going to be very careful with her, and that there will be consequences if something happens to her” a male voice said.

 _That’s quite the protective parent_ she thought.

“you know that we can’t put her in a cage and forbid her to make friends, both because it's physically impossible and because it is morally wrong.” A female voice replied.

“I just don’t want her to emotionally break once she has to go back,” the male said as they rounded the corner. Sarai temporarily froze in shock. The man was tall and muscular, probably a warrior. He had blue eyes and pale skin, but that wasn’t what caught her attention. It was the white hair, the pointy ears, horns and lack of a fifth finger. Long story short: A moonshadow elf.

“I don’t think I’m following. What do you mean by ‘go back’?” the woman replied, presumably Ms. Opeli. She had blonde hair and grey eyes. She was wearing white robes, looking almost too formal.

“Her parents are part of the dragon guard, elite warriors and protector of the dragon royal family. But to better the relationship between elves and humans, the children of the dragon guard have to attend a human school for at least a year, before the parents can choose to continue the education or send them to an elven school. Knowing her parents they are going to send her back to the Silvergrove at the end of this year. None of us wanted this, except maybe the little blade herself”

“I see,” Opeli stopped a few feet away from the classroom. “She can wait in my classroom for now, but eventually she has to get used to the other kids. I will make sure she has a nice stay here, but this conversation has been going on for a while, why don’t you get her and have her get used to the classroom before the other kids stream in?”

With that the elf nodded and walked back the way they came, at the same moment Opeli noticed Sarai.

“Oh.. Excuse me, can I help you with something? The name is Opeli” She held out a hand for Sarai to shake.

“Sarai, I was wondering if Callum could start inside for the first few days, Saleer said to me that you wouldn’t mind if I brought him to your classroom.” She gestured to Callum, who finally looked up from his drawing when his name was mentioned.

“I don’t mind this one time. But if I might ask, why do you need him to start inside? Wouldn’t you want him to be outside with the other kids?” Opeli raised one of her eyebrows.

Sarai sighed “I would… but Callum has quite the case of social anxiety, meaning that the large amount of playing kids might just have him break down.”

Sarai gave Callum a sad smile when he went back to drawing.

“Isn’t this going to cause problems in class?” Opeli seemed concerned “If it is that bad I would have recommended to have him privately tutored, if you have the money”

Sarai sighed again. “I have seriously considered it, but I don’t want him to go through life constantly afraid of people, not able to make friends. So even If he doesn’t make friends, I still want him to get at least comfortable enough with others so that he doesn’t get an attack every time he is in a larger group. If you need anything from me to help, I will mostly be available for the first few weeks, but then I need to go back to work.”

Sarai’s job was anything but relaxing, being an ambassador, former general of Katolis, which means that she has to travel quite frequently. During those periods Callum stays with the only other person he is comfortable with, his aunt Amaya.

“let’s just hope this goes well. You can just bring him here at the start of the day, and pick him up here afterwards. He doesn’t seem like the kid that would be in the way of preparations to much”

“Thank you, if you could tell me if he had an attack, that might also help him. Lets just hope it doesn’t get too bad.” Sarai said as she walked towards the door, stopping to kneel in front of Callum.

“Hey, Mom has to go, aunt Amaya will come pick you up. Be a good kid, okay?” Sarai smiled, then got up again. Callum only nodded and started to stare at his drawing. Now being a full rough sketch of the bird.

“Hey, What are ye drawin’?”

Callum almost launched out of his seat, starting to sweat and breathing shorter breaths immediately. Slowly he looked to his left, once he saw the person next to him he only started to breathe even shorter, on the edge of hyperventilating. Next to him sat a girl, his age. She had pale skin, with weird fang -like markings under her unusually violet eyes. She had white hair that almost shone in the sunlight coming through the windows at the other side of the classroom. She had pointy ears and only four fingers, but the thing that Callum found the most unusual were the horns on her head. Then it all snapped together, she was an elf. Callum didn’t know a lot about elves, just that her mother worked with them and that they had magic.

“Uh.. “ Callum stammered “I-it’s a b-bird”

The elf eyed the drawing curiously, taking in all the details. “Ye’re good at this”

‘Eh, t-thanks?”

It sounded almost like a question with how scared Callum was, but his breath slowed. Not by much, but it slowed.

“A’m Rayla, Who are ye?” She held out a hand for Callum to shake. “Runaan told me this is how ye humans introduce yerself to each other, ye’re supposed to shake hands or somethin’?”

Callum looked at her hand, still nervous. But decided to push through his anxiety and reached out his own hand. “I’m C-Callum” he stammered while shaking her hand.

Rayla must have realized that Callum felt nervous, so she just looked as Callum went back to drawing.

\---

A few minutes had passed when the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the day of school. Not a minute later, the whole classroom was filled with kids. Callum started to breathe short breaths again, until he felt a soft hand on one of his shoulders. He looked up to see a concerned Rayla looking at him.

“Are ye okay?” she asked.

“Y-yeah, it's just a lot of people,” Callum managed to say between breaths, which slowly began to settle once the classroom turned silent.

“Alright everyone” Opeli said, her voice loud and clear, settling the last whispers. “I want to begin with a little round of introductions. If it is your turn, you tell us your name, if you have brothers or sisters, and what you like to do. We start at the door, and move to the left. Then the row behind, until we had everyone”

 _Great, first_ Callum thought.

When no one said anything the class looked over at Callum, who swallowed.

“I-I’m C-Callum, I don’ h-have siblings and I l-like to d-draw” He almost whispered, looking at the table. Knowing about his anxiety Opeli left it at that and looked over at Rayla, who looked a lot more confident.

“A’m Rayla, A also don’t have any brothers or sisters and A like to play with the adoraburrs in the meadows.”

Opeli raised a brow, and the rest of the class looked utterly confused. “Eh, what are adoraburrs, Rayla?”

Now was Rayla’s time to look confused. How could someone not know what adoraburrs were.

“They are these cute little fluffy animals? They stick to almost everythin’, and you can stack a lot of them?”

“Well, maybe we will see some over here too, now that you can be here” Opeli said and moved on to the next kid.

“Ye don’t have adoraburrs over here?” Rayla whispered to Callum.

“No, I have never even heard of them.” Callum immediately regretted saying it because Rayla started looking at her table, utterly disappointed.

“Do ye have any other animals who wanna be friends?” She asked after a few seconds.

“Puppies and kittens usually want to be friends, and they are also very cute. But we can’t have one because mom isn’t home enough and I am not old enough to care for a puppy or kitten.” Now it was Callum’s turn to look disappointed.

“Do yer parents allow you to have a pet?” He finally managed to ask.

Rayla looked even more disappointed. How that was possible, Callum didn’t know. “Mah parents aren’t home much.”

Callum carefully placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping she wouldn’t get mad. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

Rayla looked back at Callum, a slight smile creeping on her face. “It's fine, A have uncle Runaan and uncle Ethari lookin’ out for me. They are nice, but they aren’t mah actual parents, y’know.”

Callum didn’t know how to respond, so he didn’t.

Rayla started staring at her table again, smile falling. “A don’t know exactly why, but ever since mah parents left. Nobody wanted to be friends with me anymore. That’s why A went to the adoraburrs.”

Callum now really felt bad for her. Even though he only knew her for about half an hour, he felt comfortable around her. Something only his mother and aunt had managed until then.

“I never had friends as well. I was always too scared.”

Rayla now fully turned to face Callum “A guess we’re pretty similar then, wanna be friends?”

That was something that shocked Callum, someone wanted to be his friend

Someone wanted to be his _friend_

Someone wanted to be _his_ friend

“I would like that,” he admitted. “let’s be friends” he smiled at Rayla.


	2. Thank you

“So, how was school?” Ethari asked while walking home with Rayla. She had just finished her first day at school, but didn’t seem to pleased. They were walking though the gates at the edge of the town. Elves still got distrustful glances and weren’t welcome in some places, even though peace had been established 5 years ago. Runaan and Ethari had deliberately bought a house outside of town, so they -especially Rayla- would be safe from the few humans that wouldn’t change with the world.

“T’was okay” She said, looking down at her feet.

Ethari, always the kind man, noticed this and gave her a soft smile, “What’s botherin’ ye, little blade?”

“It’s just… its nothing”

Ethari sight and picked her up, seating her on one of his arms so he could look at her face.

“If it makes ye sad is isn’t nothing”

Rayla buried her face in Ethari’s shoulder, letting go of a small sob.

“A.. A made a friend, but then this other guy was being mean to him, so A punched him. And now A’m afraid he doesn’t want to be my friend anymore.”

Ethari started rubbing circles on Rayla’s back with his free hand, slowly pulling her in a one armed hug. “Ye were looking out for him. That is probably why you didn’t get detention. If he doesn’t want to be yer friend after that, A don’t know what he thinks of ye, but A’m sure that you will make some more friends.”

With that they arrived at their temporary house. It was a relatively small cottage, with a stone base and wooden walls. It had little windows with shutters on both floors, and a porch at the front. The inside was quite messy because they had only moved in the previous day, but couch that was placed next to one of the windows was quite comfortable. On the other side was the round dining table, set for three.

“We’re home Runaan,” Ethari called. “A see that dinner’s almost ready?”

“Aye” Runaan replied, exiting the small kitchen next to the hallway. “We’re just having soup for now.”

* * *

When Callum came home with his aunt, his mother was already cooking dinner. The smell of roasted chicken filled the medium sized house. As ambassador she could have easily afforded a house 3 times as large as this one, but Sarai had never been a ‘grand’ person. She liked to keep thins modest. The house was sturdily built with it stone walls, but the inside was verry cozy. The living room was based around the fire place, the couch at the opposite side of a small table. In the corner there was a desk that Sarai used to write letters, but it functioned more as Callum’s drawing desk. Connected to both the hallway and the living room was a kitchen with a decent sized dining table.

Sarai left the pan and walked over to the door at the sound of Amaya opening it. It was a good thing that Amaya had been free that afternoon, because Sarai had an emergency meeting with the other generals that afternoon and she couldn’t bear the thought of Callum getting an anxiety attack because there is no one to pick him up.

“So, how was your first day at school?” She asked Callum, who immediately hugged his mother.

“Someone wanted to be my friend mom! Someone wanted to be my _friend_!”

Callum was absolutely giddy, unable to sit still and hold in his excitement. Sarai was happy for him. Kindergarten hadn’t been kind to the kid. The place was too crowded and energetic for him so he shied away from all the other kids, unable to make friends.

“That’s great Callum, I’m proud of you” Sarai said while ruffling his hair.

 _“He has been bouncing like this ever since I picked him up from school”_ Amaya signed. Sarai’s sister had been born deaf, but had become adept at reading lips.

“Food is almost done so why don’t you two help me set the table so we can talk about your new friend over dinner?”

And with that they all moved to the kitchen. Callum grabbed three bowls from a shelf while Amaya grabbed the goblets from a cupboard. Then she grabbed three sets of cutlery and placed it on the table. All the while Sarai stirred the summer stew one last time before placing it at the center of the table.

“So,” She said (and signed) after filling Amaya’s bowl “Who is this new friend of yours?”

Callum started to smile again at the mention of his friend. “She’s called Rayla, and she’s an elf!”

That earned him a confused look from Amaya. “ _There is an elf at your school?”_

“I think I remember her dad, she is a moonshadow isn’t she?” Sarai asked while scooping some stew in her own bowl.

Callum looked confused, “what is a moonshadow?” he asked. He had never heard that the moon had a shadow.

Sarai immediately understood the confusion. “A moonshadow is one of the 6 types of elves, the other are sunfire, startouched, earthblood, skywing and tidebound elves. They can all do different kinds of magic.”

Callum didn’t know how to respond. Not only because the names were so difficult, but also that Rayla might be able to do magic.

“What kind of magic can Rayla do?” He asked, completely forgetting his stew.

“Moon magic is mostly based on illusions, making people see things that aren’t there. But Rayla is probably not old enough to have learned any magic, and not all elves can become mages either.” Sarai deliberately left out the bit about moon magic also being connected to death and that a lot of moonshadow elves became assassins. Meanwhile Callum became only more giddy about all the magic.

“How do elves do magic then?”

“I don’t exactly know, but I believe they draw runes in the air or on objects” It was true that Sarai met a lot of elves on her diplomatic missions, but only a rare few of them where mages, and none ever preformed magic during the discussions.

“So like, they draw a scary spider and then its there?” Callum asked, getting confused by the whole drawing bit. The one time he saw a human do magic their eyes became black while they said some weird words, the image still giving him nightmares some nights.

“Not exactly,” Came Sarai’s answer. “But speaking of drawings, how far are you with that bird you started this morning?”

And just like that almost all the joy in Callum’s face was gone and he looked down at the table, shoulders hunching.

“It’s gone” he managed to say, before tears started welling up in his eyes.

Sarai came over to is seat. Kneeling down and whipping away a tear.

“What do you mean by gone?” her voice gentle as always when Callum was not feeling well.

“T-this older kid came and t-tore it up, I-I don’t know why he did it” Callum stammered.

Sarai put her arms around Callum, embracing him in a semi-hug. Callum quickly melted into the embrace and nuzzled his head on her shoulder. They stayed there for a while, Calum letting all the tears flow out. Once he stopped Sarai lifted his chin so she was looking at him directly.

“What happened afterwards? She asked.

“R-Rayla punched him” he managed to say, his voice almost ripping his throat apart because of how hoarse it was.

Sarai cupped Callum’s cheek and looked at him with gentle eyes, trying to comfort him she asked: “Why don’t you make her a drawing? It can be a nice thank you for being your friend and standing up for you.”

That brought back a smile on Callum’s face. He nodded and wanted to run off to the desk to start drawing but was stopped by Sarai.

“Not so fast my little artist. You still haven’t eaten your stew”

* * *

When Rayla arrived the next morning, she took her place on a bench in a relatively quiet area. She remembered Callum saying he was afraid of people. When she was looking around to see if she could find Callum, she instead saw everyone glancing over at her, before quickly looking away. Curious but mostly annoyed by this she walked over to one of the kids.

“hey, why is everyone lookin’ at me like that?”

The kid almost jumped up before turning around. He had spiky black hair and pale skin. Fear in his hazel eyes.

“Ehh..” he repield sheepishly, “You almost knocked out Soren yesterday, he is like the strongest guy here at school, so a lot of the kids don’t want to get in trouble with you.”

That relived some tension off of Rayla, it meant that it (mostly) wasn’t because she was an elf.

“Rayla!” she suddenly heard. Looking around she saw Callum cautiously walking up to her, holding something. When he got closer she could see it was a framed piece of paper, but not wat was on it.

“I made you something as a thank you for yesterday” He said as he handed it to her.

It was a drawing of Rayla, standing in a fighting position. She had a fierce look on her face and was standing in front of a lot of fluffy balls with scared faces on them. As a finishing touch someone (probably Sarai, as they didn’t know how to write or read) wrote ‘the adorraguard’ above the drawing. Rayla could only look with awestruck eyes at how perfectly Callum had captured her. She knew he was good because of his first drawing, but she didn’t know he was this good.

“It’s,” she stammered “It’s amazin’, t-thank ya”

That compliment made Callum blush. “I just hope I got the adoraburrs right.”

“ye did, thank you” she grinned, before tackling Callum to the ground in a massive hug.


	3. No one messes with my friend

A few weeks had passed.

The stares Rayla got the first few days were gone, and she felt a bit more comfortable at school. She still hadn’t made any friends besides Callum, But she didn’t mind. She didn’t want to be a part of a large group, and her new catchphrase became ‘fitting in is boring anyway.’ Callum hadn’t made any more friends either, first because he didn’t know how to approach someone, but later just so Rayla wasn’t too swarmed. The duo did almost everything together when they were at school. But Rayla was never allowed by her foster dads to visit Callum, and he wasn’t allowed by them to visit them.

Callum was sitting under a tree on the playground, drawing the stray cat that sat just outside the playground, when Soren approached him. Rayla had just left him for a minute because she needed to go to the toilet.

“Hey, whatcha drawing?” Soren called out.

“That cat over there”

“Why are you  **drawing** anyway?”

“I like to draw”

“Not a good excuse”

“What?”

“You know you should be training right?” Soren said, “If you ever wanna be like your mother.”

“Do I need to be like my mother?”

“Yea, you are too weak for a generals kid”

Callum stayed silent and went back to drawing. The cat had left, but he still remembered it.

He wasn’t anticipating Soren punching him hard on the head.

“Hey, that hurts,” Callum said as tears started rolling down his cheeks.

“I know, you need to toughen up.” Soren said, “Man up cry-baby!” he yelled.

Rayla had just gotten back to the playground and heard the yelling, but thought nothing of it. When she got to the tree, Callum wasn’t there anymore. She looked around to find him, her eyes finally setting on Callum, curled up and crying, while Soren was yelling at him.

“Hey!” Rayla yelled.

Soren didn’t respond.

“HEY!” Rayla shouted.

Soren turned around.

“Well look who’s here, its general cry-baby’s guard!”

“Stop that Soren”

Rayla was getting mad.

“Why?” Soren asked, before slapping Callum on the head again. “Stop crying” he yelled at Callum.

“I said, STOP THAT SOREN” Rayla yelled.

Soren turned around again, just before he got a kick in the face. Soren stumbled back but got up again.

“So you wanna fight?”

“You need to leave Callum alone”

Rayla was mad, everyone could tell.

“Oh, are you gonna step up for your general cry-baby?” Soren teased.

_ That was it, enough of these bulldroppings  _ Rayla thought, before punching him in the face.

“Ok, fight it is,” Soren said, just before he got kicked in the leg.

Soren tried to kick Rayla in the stomach, but she caught his leg. She forced it up higher until Soren fell on his back. But Soren got up quickly, taking in a solid stand.

Rayla recognized the stance, arms in front of the face to block punches and legs a bit wide to stay stable. Soren knew what he was doing, he just wasn’t really good at it because his legs were quite wide and next to each other, instead of behind one another.

“Come on, hit me.” Soren teased.

His legs were really too wide, giving Rayla the opportunity to really test how much of a man Soren was. One kick to the balls later and Soren was rolling on the ground in pain.

“Remember this Soren. NO ONE messes with MY FRIEND”

She put out a hand to Callum, helping him up while he was still sobbing.

* * *

“I hope you can understand why I called you here,” Opeli said in a nice but stern voice.

On the other side of her desk were the parents of the 3 kids: Ex high mage Viren, Soren’s dad; Sarai, Runaan, and Ethari.

“If this has anything to do with my daughter being disrespected I’m pulling her out,” Runaan said, almost emotionless.

“From what I have heard there was a fight between your daughter and Soren”

“What happened exactly?” Ethari asked.

“Rayla herself said she was defending Callum from Soren, the other two didn’t want to talk yet.”

“Are you seriously going to believe an elf? After everything they put us through?”

It was quite clear that Viren was anti-elf.

“The story does add up to what the other kids said. From what I understand, Soren started yelling and hitting Callum, after which Rayla started a fight with Soren.”

“Does anyone know why he did that?” Sarai asked with a concerned look on her face.

“The only thing I heard from the students is that Soren kept calling Callum general cry-baby.”

“What will happen to the kids?” Sarai asked.

“I know Callum and Rayla, they are in my class. I know that Callum wouldn’t hurt a fly and that Rayla would do anything to keep him safe. Callum is innocent in this matter, that is quite clear. He won't get detention. Soren and Rayla on the other hand, they started a fight, and because of our rules, this means that they will both get detention, even if Rayla was standing up for Callum.”

“I can’t believe it” Runaan muttered under his breath.

“What does this mean?” Ethari asked.

“Rayla will have to stay an hour longer after school for a week. She can use this time for schoolwork, but she can’t go out to the playground”

“And Soren?” Viren asked grumpily.

“The same thing, he will have to stay an hour longer for a week, but If they misbehave again during this week, the detention will be extended. You can tell your kids now, the detention starts next Monday and ends Friday. If there are no more questions, we’re done here”

* * *

“When Sarai left Opeli’s office to get Callum she wasn’t expecting the elf he talked so fondly about to still be with him. They were sitting at their tables in their classroom. Callum leaning into Rayla and one of her arms over his shoulders.

“Hey,” Sarai said softly.

“Hi mom,” Callum said, his voice still cracking a bit from the crying.

“You must be Rayla, I’m Sarai”

“Yeah, is Callum getting detention?”

“No, Callum isn’t getting detention, he didn’t do anything, right?”

“Yeah, but I did on his behalf. So I thought that maybe, we would both get detention.”

“May I know why you thought that?” Sarai asked kindly.

“It's how things work at home. you help someone, you’re a team, you the same amount of detention”

“Oh, I guess things work a little differently around here.”

Then Runaan and Ethari entered the classroom, Runaan a bit shocked at how Rayla was holding Callum.

“Rayla, we need to talk a bit,” Ethari said, as he and Runaan both grabbed a chair.

“Should I leave with Callum?” Sarai asked.

“If you would be so kind, I would appreciate it,” Runaan said.

Sarai took Callum in his arms and left the room.

“Why did you defend that human?” Runaan sternly asked Rayla.

“He is my friend, and he doesn’t know how to defend himself”

“Why are you friends,” Runaan asked

“Runaan, please,” Ethari said.

“He has always been nice to me, and he is the only one I know and trust. He is also the only one that understands me” Rayla sounded disappointed.

“I still don’t really see a good reason why you should have defended that boy”

“I won’t allow anyone to hurt Callum, not even you” Rayla got a bit frustrated.

“I understand that you would do a lot for him, but you need to understand that there are consequences to things like this,” Ethari said carefully.

“I know” Rayla bit back

“Look, you have been given a week of detention, this means that you will have to stay at school an hour longer for the duration of a week.”

“And?”

“And you can't go out to have fun on the playground” Ethari finished.

“Seems reasonable” Rayla still sounded a little agitated.

“Please, be careful what you get yourself into”

“I think it’s time we head home,” Runaan concluded.


	4. detention

Monday

Rayla saw everyone pack up their supplies and put away their books. They could all go home, but she had to stay. She was just glad that Soren was a few grades above her, so he was in another classroom.

When almost everyone had left, she turned around to look at Callum. Instead of cleaning his desk and leaving, he grabbed a sketchbook and some pencils out of his bag.

“What are you doing?” Rayla asked him

“I wanna stay with you,” He said while putting away his bag.

“Why?”

“Because you’re my friend, and if I were to go home, I would also just be drawing”

“You don’t wanna go home to your mom?”

“She isn’t home until Thursday, she has some talks with other people from the military”

“Oh”

“Yeah, but even then, this would be more fun”

“My dads don’t really allow us to meet up” she sighed, “this is probably the most time we will spend together after school”

“It’s sad, but at least we can see each other during school. Can I draw you?”

“Sure” She said and looked how Callum started drawing her, sometimes looking over at her to get the details.

Tuesday

Everyone left again except for her and Callum. But this time Opeli was the one to ask why he didn’t leave.

“I wanna stay with my friend, she helped me, so I helped her.”

“I admire your loyalty, but won’t you mom question why you are home so late?”

“She isn’t home until Thursday, but I asked her if it was okay first, she knows. This is actually better because I’m not home alone”

“What would you be doing otherwise?”

“Drawing on my own, or getting bored”

“Have you never met at one of your houses then?”

“No” Rayla chimed in “My dads won’t allow it. Especially Runaan since he doesn’t like humans”

“Yeah, I remember him saying he didn’t like you having to go to school here.”

“I could probably sneak out, and visit Callum. But I have no idea what he would do to Callum. So I don’t”

Wednesday

She had gotten used to it at this point, everyone getting up but her and Callum. Callum grabbing his sketchbook and pencils, and he would start to draw something while they talked. This time was a little different though.

“You wanna try?” Callum asked. Holding out his pencil.

“Oh, I don’t think I’m that good at it.”

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter if it looks good or not. It's supposed to be fun”

“What should I draw?”

“I don’t know. Look around if you see something you would like to draw, I would not start with something too difficult though as, knowing you, you would try to kill the drawing.”

Rayla chuckled at the remark that she would kill a drawing.

“Do you think I could draw that teddy bear?”

“Why not, give it a try”

Rayla started sketching, but the proportions were all wrong and the lines were going everywhere.

“I don’t know how you do this so easily,” She said.

“I usually start with a rough sketch, get the basics. Then I add detail. It’s a lot easier to separate the object into different basic shapes.”

“What do you mean?”

“The belly and head could both be a big circle, and the ears and paws could be smaller circles.”

Callum started drawing.

“The paws you can connect to the body like this” Callum said while drawing a few extra lines.

“Now we define the teddy bear itself. You also want to do this lightly, without drawing long lines”

“Please explain,” she asked, looking confused.

“If you draw a long line, you are more likely to mess up. You’re better off making strokes with your pencil until you have a solid shape. Then you trace the stroke line with a more defiant continuous line”

“Oh, that’s actually pretty smart,” Rayla said as she started drawing again.

Thursday

It was almost time again, but this time Callum would go home, Rayla thought. She was wrong, Callum stayed.

“Why are you staying again? Doesn’t your mom want you home?”

“She isn’t home until after sundown, but she sent me a letter yesterday saying she would bring something with her from the meetings.”

“And?”

“She had told me before she left that there were more peace talks, but she didn’t know who would be attending, just knew there were some high ranked elves. Usually, there are Sunfire and Earthbood elves, sometimes Tidebound or Skywing elves. This time there was a Moonshadow elf.”

“Oh”

“Mom asked him a few questions outside the talks, wanting to get to know your culture better. She asked what would be something nice to bring back for you.”

“Wait really?”

“Yeah, now I’m sure that you will always be welcome at our house.”

“That’s nice, just sad my dads won’t allow it”

“You said yourself that you could sneak away”

“Maybe, but I don’t know what they will do to you”

“Hey, if you trust me enough to sneak away to hang out with me, I’m sure they will understand”

“Hopefully”

“I’m just excited for tomorrow when I can give it to you”

“Me too”

Friday

Callum had said that his mom asked him to only give her the surprise when everyone else had left. She couldn’t wait for detention, it had gotten the best moment of her day, spending an hour alone with Callum. Opeli checked in a few times, but no one was there to judge their friendship.

“You ready?” He asked when everyone else had left.

“Yeah”

Callum put a box on the table.

“I don’t even know what it is,” Callum said.

Rayla opened the box, to see her favorite dessert.

“It’s a moonberry surprise!” She yelled out.

“A what?” Callum asked.

“A moonberry surprise, it’s my favourite dessert. You can have some if you want”

“Really, you would give up some of your gift to me?”

“Yeah, you're my friend. And also, if I eat all of it I would probably explode from the energy. I can't stop myself whenever I start on one of these”

“Alright” Callum said, excited, as Rayla handed him a piece of the moonberry surprise.

“My mom should have gotten one of these for herself,” Callum said “she is a really big sweet tooth”

“Are there human desserts like this?” Rayla asked.

“Jelly tarts get decently close, but nothing human measures up to this”

“I should try some then”

“You should”

“Did your mother get you a gift?” Rayla asked after a while.

“Yeah, she got me this cube thingy, with runes on it. Dunno what it is but she said that she vaguely remembered seeing it in a book somewhere. She also got me some more drawing supplies, including charcoal.” Callum sounded really happy with the charcoal.

“Why charcoal?”

“It's great for shading and drawing really black lines”

When Opeli came back at the end of detention she wanted to thank Rayla for behaving well during detention, to which Rayla could only answer one thing: “No one can ever mess with Callum while I’m around”

* * *

When Callum came back home his mom was already waiting for him.

“And, how was detention?”

“As usual, the best part of my day” Callum smiled

“You are really good friends with Rayla, aren’t you”

“Yeah,” Callum said, “You should have gotten yourself some of that moonberry surprise”

“Of what?”

“The dessert you got Rayla, it's really sweet”

“I don’t think there is anything sweeter than jelly tarts”

“You thought wrong, this stuff is way better”

“She gave you some?”

“Yeah, said she would explode from the energy otherwise”

“Now that I think about it there are some other things that are sweeter than jelly tarts too”

“What?”

“You, and by the sounds of it, Rayla too. You should have her come over some time”

“Her dads don’t really like that idea,” Callum said, his face falling a little bit.

“Do you know why?”

“One of her dad's kinda hates humans”

“And the other?”

“I dunno…”

“You know what,” his mom said while wiping a tear off his face. “I’ll go talk to them, ask if they would be okay with Rayla visiting us and you visiting Rayla sometimes”

“Thanks, mom”

“No problem, sweetheart.”


	5. Can I come play?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bit of a shorter chapter, as i had to split the original in 2 to more accurately fit the length of the other chapters

It was December at this point. Rayla and Callum had a lot of fun at school but still weren’t allowed to hang out together after school. Callum’s mother had tried to talk with Rayla’s dads. But Runaan would never allow it.

The winter solstice was coming up and Callum and his mother were preparing the house for the holiday. The tree they brought in was a bit on the small side, but the ornaments were nice.

“Can we ask if Rayla could come over for the solstice?” Callum asked while decorating the tree.

“We could ask, do you know if they celebrate the solstice?”

“No, but I’ll ask Rayla, she would love to come no matter what.”

“Yeah, she would, from what I see, you’re inseparable at school.”

“School is only boring if Rayla isn’t there”

Sarai chuckled a bit at that remark. When she was Callum’s age she hated school, and wanted nothing to do with it.

“I’ll ask her tomorrow, while we still have school, after that, I won’t see her for like, 2 weeks. I don’t know how I’m gonna survive”

“You don’t have a secret meeting place or something?” Sarai asked.

“No? What do you mean?”

“My friends and I always had this place in the forest where we would meet up in secret, we always had a certain time that we would meet, so we didn’t have to really plan anything”

“That’s a good idea, I’m gonna tell her tomorrow”

“If you want to be able to tell her without falling asleep, it’s probably bed time”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Callum said while yawning.

“Can you sing me that lullaby you used to sing when I was little?” Callum asked.

“Little one, I’ll sing it if it makes you sleep better,” his mother said as she sat down on the side of his bed.

“The sun is down, and the moon is high.

Baby yawns wide with a sleepy sigh.

The sky fills up with stars that blink.

Baby’s eyelids start to sink.

The ocean kisses the earth good night

The waves say hush … little babe, sleep tight”

“Goodnight sweetheart”

“Goodnight mom”

* * *

When Rayla arrived at school Callum was already there, waiting in their usual corner.

“Hey Callum,” Rayla said as she went to stand next to him.

“Hey Rayla,” Callum said while a smile grew on his face. “Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“Do you elves celebrate the winter solstice?”

“No, not really.”

“I was wondering if you could maybe come over to us to celebrate with us.”

“How do you celebrate?”

“We put up this nice tree and hang ornaments in it, and place presents under it. People usually play a lot of family games, but we can't really, because it's usually just my mom, my aunt and me.”

“Oh”

“I thought that if there was only one day that you could visit me, it would have to be the winter solstice.”

“I don’t think Runaan will allow it, he has started to grow an even bigger grudge against humans over the last few weeks”

“You could still come in secret?”

“Yeah probably,” Rayla said, “But I don’t know what Runaan will do to you if he finds me at your house.”

“Don’t worry about me, I have my mom and aunt to protect me, they are both really good fighters.”

“We could try, but I don’t know where you live, and going to your place is gonna be impossible after school today because Runaan is picking me up”

“We should get a secret meeting place, where we can both go if we wanna see each other outside school”

“It’s a good idea, but where do you suppose to have this place, you know I have never been in any town other than here, for school”

“Have you ever been to the weird little red barn at the edge of the village and the forest?”

“Isn’t that on the complete other side of the village to the capitol?”

“Yeah, but it’s the only place besides school that we both know.”

“True” Rayla really didn’t know any place but the school, her house and that weird barn she passes on her way to school”

“Meet me there on the morning of the solstice, from there we can walk to my house”

“How far is the barn from your house?”

“About an hour, but I think it’ll be worth it”

“Okay, the morning of the solstice at the barn, but it's best if we meet before sunrise” Rayla added

Suddenly they both heard their names being called out by Opeli. Their fervent planning had caused them both to miss the bell ringing.


	6. solstice celebrations

It was still quite dark, Callum and his mom had been waiting outside the little barn for about 15 minutes now. Sarai had accepted the plan, but wouldn’t let Callum go alone in the dark. They hadn’t seen anyone in that time period. But they did hear a twig snap, so they were at high alert.

Suddenly, Callum saw twigs being moved in the distance, but no one was there. It came closer to them by the second. Sarai saw it now too, it was only about 50 meters away.

25 meters. Sarai gripped the handle of her sword.

10 meters. Sarai pulled her sword out of its sheath.

5 meters. She held the sword out, moving into a defensive stance in front of Callum.

It stopped in front of them.

…

“Hey Callum”

They heard someone whisper.

“Rayla?” Callum asked quietly.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, it’s me. I figured out how to activate my shadow mode last full moon, that is why I said we should meet before sunrise.”

“You can turn invisible?” Callum asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

“You never heard about our shadow mode?”

“No”

“I have,” Sarai said “But I’ve never seen it in person”

“let’s go before my dads realize I’m gone.”

“good idea,” Sarai said.

After about 30 minutes of walking the sun rose, and Rayla could no longer be in her shadow mode. They had to be careful because there were still a lot of elf haters in the capitol. Callum had given Rayla a coat to pull over her head, and they would make sure she arrived safely at their house.

“Do you really think we are going to run in an elf hater?” Rayla asked. “This coat is annoying my ears.”

“Better safe than sorry” Sarai replied.

“Yeah, fair point.”

After another 30 minutes, they arrived at Sarai and Callum’s house. It looked old from the outside. It was located in one of the richer parts of town.  _ Being a general must pay good _ Rayla thought. On the inside, it was quite cozy, with decorations everywhere. There was someone sitting at the table in the living room,  _ She looks like Sarai.  _ When they finally entered the living room after putting away their coats, the woman came up to hug Sarai and Callum, before looking at Rayla. The woman looked back at Sarai and started waving her hands in weird motions, then Sarai did the same back. Callum must have noticed Rayla’s confused face.

“This is my aunt Amaya. She is deaf, so she can’t hear you. We talk in sign language”

“So those weird hand movements had a meaning?”

“yup”

Amaya turned back to Rayla and started to sign to her, with Sarai translating.

“And who are you?”

“I’m Rayla, Callum’s friend”

“Ah, nice to meet you, I’m Amaya. How long have you two known each other?”

“About half a year, met at the beginning of school”

“So you go to school here?”

“My parents are part of the dragonguard, and all the children of the dragonguard need to go to a human school for at least a year.”

“Do you want to stay longer?”

“I don’t know, I miss my village, but I never had friends there”

“So Callum is your first friend?”

“Yeah”

“You made a good choice, I would have done the same”

“She is also my first friend,” Callum added.

“Oh, I thought you and Markos used to be friends in kindergarten” Amaya asked confused.

“Nothing like this, just not annoying each other”

“Ah, you know what, let’s go make some cookies, I had something prepared”

Sarai had a hard time keeping off the cookies, while Callum and Rayla enjoyed their share together. Sarai had the confidence that nothing would tear her son and Rayla apart. It definitely was a nice feeling to know that Callum had a friend for life, despite his trouble making friends in kindergarten. This was probably the clearest picture of peace Sarai had seen. She had gone to a lot of peace talks as general of Katolis, but peace never looked as real as this. A human and an elf being friends, sharing cookies

* * *

“Let’s go make snowmen” Callum suggested after he showed Rayla the rest of the house.

It had snowed a lot the day before the solstice so there was a thick layer when they stepped outside.

“We usually make snow elves,” Rayla said

“We can make both” Sarai suggested “or make a 2-in-one snowperson”

They started to roll nice big balls of snow, once they had three, Sarai and Amaya stacked them on top of each other. Callum and Rayla added the details, Callum putting stones in the front to imitate buttons. Rayla firmly sticking two carrots in the head of the snowperson, before sticking a third in the middle of the face as a nose.

“I think it looks more like an elf” Callum noted when they were done.

“Yeah, but if you remove the horns, you would have a human”

“I don’t know, maybe give him gloves, so he has 5 fingers”

Amaya pulled off her gloves and put them on the end of the twigs that were supposed to be arms.

“I think it looks great,” She signed. “I had a lot of fun making it”

That was something they could all agree on.

A few hours later the sun went down, making it time for the presents.

They all sat in a circle around the tree as they each took a turn grabbing one of their presents and unpacking it. Sarai got a nice sweater from Amaya, then Callum got a pen holder from his mother and Amaya picked out a drawing Callum had made for her. Rayla was just happy to tag along.

“We also got you some stuff,” Callum said to Rayla after Amaya had put away his drawing.

“Really?”

Rayla’s eyes went wide from excitement.

“Yeah, you have always been nice to me, so it would be nice to include you in the festivities.”

A soft thanks was the only thing Rayla could say before starting to squeal from joy. She had never really felt like she was a part of something until now.

She took a look under the tree, and yes, there were also gifts for Rayla. She grabbed one Sarai made.

“I had to ask a few questions to some of the elves at our last meeting for that one” Sarai said, before Rayla opened it.

It was a plushie of an adoraburr, in her favorite color: Purple.

“I LOVE it!”

“So you won’t miss your friends from home”

“Thank you SO MUCH!”

Little Rayla was just beaming with happiness.

Halfway through the second round, they heard a knock on the door, and Sarai went to open it.

It was Ethari, looking very worried and confused. That quickly turned to relive when he saw Sarai.

“Is Rayla still here? We have been looking for her all day. She only left a note that said she had gone to meet up with Callum.”

“Yeah she is here, do you want to come in?”

“Please”

When Rayla saw Ethari, her face went pale. This was the first time Callum saw her scared.

“Ethari…” Rayla said quietly.

“Rayla,” Ethari said, “Please tell us what you’re up to, you had us genuinely worried for your life”

“I’m okay, I just thought there was no way Runaan would let me go here.”

“He wouldn’t, but I’m not Runaan. Please tell me this was at least somewhat planned.”

“It was,” Sarai said, “But the only part I got was that we would meet Rayla at an abandoned barn just outside the village. and then we would walk back here, where she would join us in our Solstice celebration. I suspected she would at least have told you or something.”

“Oh, but what do you celebrate exactly, if I might ask?”

“Nothing specifically, it’s just a nice time to meet family, and exchange gifts. We also got a few for Rayla”

“But why, I don’t understand.”

“You don’t understand what?”

“That you would just include Rayla in your festivities”

“She is the only friend Callum has ever had, she defends him all the time at school, and makes sure he feels safe. So he wanted Rayla to be part of our celebration”

“And you were okay with that?” Ethari asked, still confused.

“yeah, I know it isn’t really the Moonshadow way, just accepting someone from outside your community in such a big event. But it’s a nice thing to do, you could join us too if you wanted.” Sarai offered.

“I’ll have to say no to that offer, Runaan is still worried sick about Rayla and would probably tear up this house if he found her here. I’m sorry Rayla, but we have to head home soon.”

“But Ethari, please….. can I really not stay here for the evening?” Rayla asked, eyes welling up

“I’m sorry Rayla, but you can’t stay here”

* * *

This was the first time ever that Callum saw Rayla crying, before she ran away, upstairs to Callum’s Room. Callum followed after her, and when he entered his room, she was sitting on the edge of his bed. She had her face in her hands and was crying big sobs. Callum went to sit next to her and put his arm over her shoulders, the same way she had done after fighting Soren. She seemed to calm down by this, leaning into Callum like he did after the fight.

“I don’t want to go home,” she said, voice cracking because of the tears.

“You don’t have to focus on that now, I’m here to help you”

“I don’t wanna go back, I just want to be with you. You’re the only one I can tell everything without being judged”

“Not even your dads?”

“No,” she said while wiping her cheeks.

“Why?”

“I guess it has to do with the fact that I’m a moonshadow elf, we aren’t supposed to show emotions besides maybe being happy or neutral. If I say that I’m afraid of something or someone I get scolded.”

“That’s just sad”

“And If I ever cried back home, I would just be told to stop until I did, or they took me to the adoraburr meadow.”

She began to cry more.

“Sometimes it’s okay to cry, you know that”

“What?” Rayla managed to stop crying for a second

“Sometimes it’s okay to cry, because it has all been too much, or because you can’t handle something. Happiness can’t exist without sadness, just like the phases of the moon can’t exist without the sun”

Rayla let out a final sob, before hugging Callum. She felt safe in his arms, and she wanted to keep him safe at all times, not just at school. She knew that now.

When Ethari finally came upstairs to check on Rayla five minutes later, she was still in Callum’s arms, crying because he would let her. She only let go once she heard his voice:

“Rayla, I’m sorry for what I just said”

Rayla looked over at Ethari.

“You can stay here tonight, it's too dark for the humans to keep you safe on your way back home. I will pick you up tomorrow. Sarai is ok with this, and I will tell Runaan. You don’t need to worry about anything, okay?”

“Thanks, Ethari,” Rayla said as she began to smile “Please make sure Runaan doesn’t get mad.”

“I will, don’t you worry”

Rayla finally let go of Callum in order to give Ethari a hug.

“I’m going to look for Runaan now, so I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Rayla”

“Goodnight Ethari” Rayla smiled.

They had placed one of the old couches from the attic in Callum’s room. Rayla could sleep on there. She could borrow some of Callum’s nightclothes and she took her new adoraburr plushie with her. This was the first sleepover ever for both her and Callum. They were both tired of the packed day, and she loved everything about it. Baking cookies, making a snowperson, getting gifts, and even just having a good cry. All of that and her best friend was always by her side. It had been the best day of her life, and by a long shot at that. She felt full of joy and satisfaction, something warm that she had never felt before. She would never want to leave Callum.


	7. I don't want to go!

It was the last week of the year. Just five more days until summer vacation. Callum and Rayla had had a lot of fun throughout the year, but the winter solstice was still the only day one had visited the other. When Callum arrived at school, Rayla was already there. Sitting in their usual corner. But she was curled up into a ball, arms around her legs and head on her knees. She was holding a letter.

“Hey, is everything okay?” Callum asked as he went to sit next to her.

“No…” was the only thing Rayla could mutter before handing the letter over to Callum.

_ Runaan and Ethari, _

_ Everything is going well here at the spire, there have been some minor attacks by rebels, but nothing we couldn’t handle. The king is pleased with how the peace is holding and wants to continue the talks. This does mean that he wants to keep the guards that he has in place, so we won’t be back until Rayla’s 15 _ _ th _ _ birthday. Speaking of Rayla, we have enlisted her in the Silvergrove school. We will leave the choice of profession to her. If she decides to become a dragonguard, she will be our replacement when we retire. _

__

_ Lain and Tiadrin. _

It was a short letter, but a painful one at that. Callum had completely forgotten that Rayla might have to leave after a year. He didn’t want her to leave.

She didn’t want to leave.

But she had to because her parents wanted her home.

* * *

That Friday was the hardest day in both their lives.

The last goodbye, possibly forever.

Neither wanted to think that, but both knew it was possible. While elves were allowed to enter Katolis, they needed a permit from the king and a seal from the dragon king. Rayla would never be able to get them on her own.

Callum followed Rayla all the way to their temporary house in the forest, while Runaan constantly told him to go home. He wouldn’t, he couldn’t, not without Rayla.

When they arrived at the house, Ethari had already packed all their belongings and put them in a cart.

“Callum? What are you doing here?”

“I don’t wanna leave Rayla” Callum sobbed.

Runaan left out a sigh.

“Listen kid. Rayla needs to go home, and you can’t come.”

“Why?...”

“Because this is your home, and because the council doesn’t allow humans in the Silvergrove” Ethari interjected. “you need to go home to your mother, she will be worried about you.”

Runaan put Rayla down, and she ran to Callum. Giving him the biggest hug in the world. She didn’t want to go, she wanted his warmth around her, she wanted his caring words, she wanted to see his smile, she wanted to keep her friend.

When Runaan picked Rayla up again, she began to fight back. Runaan placed the kicking and screaming Rayla in the cart before sitting next to her, making sure she doesn’t just jump out of the cart.

Callum looked on as they rode off towards Xadia. He was stranded, had lost his only friend, and didn’t know what to do. The only thing he could think of was Rayla, as he fell to his knees, face buried in his hands. Callum had never cried that much.

It took Sarai 3 hours to find her son, sitting outside what she assumed was Rayla’s house. His face still wet from crying. Looking over at her while she sat down next to him.

“Hey, what’s going on?” she asked concerned.

“Rayla… left” Callum said between tears.

“Rayla left?”

“Her parents forced her back to the Silvergrove”

Callum leaned into his mom, before finally resting his head on her lap.

“They wanted her to go to a school there, they wanted her to become a dragonguard”

Sarai put her hand on his head, before starting to slowly start to stroke his head.

“Changes are an important part of life, and growing up” she started. “Sometimes there are changes, that you are not ready for. But that doesn’t mean that they won’t come. Sometimes that means that you need the help of others, to deal with the changes… I’m always here for you, sweetheart”

Sarai pulled him up for a hug, before carrying him back home, holding him tight in her arms. Callum slowly relaxed, but couldn’t fully, not until he saw Rayla again.

* * *

Rayla had tried to escape many times by now, so Runaan had to hold her the rest of the way to the Silvergrove. Crossing the border had been a bit awkward, with Rayla constantly screaming she didn’t want to go. When they finally got to the Silvergrove Rayla had tried to run off the second Runaan wasn’t holding her anymore. All the other villagers looked over at Runaan and Ethari as they chased down a very angry Rayla. If Runaan wasn’t a trained assassin, they probably wouldn’t have caught Rayla.

“I don’t want to be here!” she screamed when they took her back. “I want to go back to Callum!”

“You can’t Rayla, this is your home. You will need to make new friends here”

Runaan definitely wasn’t happy that his daughter wanted nothing more than to see a human. A  **human** !

“I don’t want new friends, I want Callum!”

“Rayla, you cant go back to Callum. He lives in Katolis, and you live here. Your parents want you to go to school here, and you are a lot safer here too.”

“I don’t want to be safe, I want to be with Callum!”

Runaan realized that this was a hopeless situation, so he just carried Rayla to their home.

Rayla was definitely having none of it, running off again the second he put her down. They would have to somehow keep her in the Silvergrove, otherwise, she would run all the way back to Callum.

Runaan went to the council, while Ethari tried to calm down Rayla.

“So Runaan, what seems to be the problem”

“My surrogate daughter, Rayla, keeps running off. We have been here for two days, but the second you lose grip on her she runs away”

“Do you know why?”

“She wants to see her human friend, she has just done her year at a human school.”

“Ah, yes. She is the child of Lain and Tiadrin?”

“Yes, and they want her to go to a school here”

The council was silent for a while.

“We could use the illusion that hides the village as a barrier” they finally said “it’s a cruel way of making sure she stays here, but she won’t be able to leave the village”

“And what if we want to take her somewhere just outside the village?” Runaan asked

“if you want to take her just outside the village, you will need to hold her hand while walking through the barrier.”

“Alright, I’ll discuss it with Ethari, and then come back with our decision,” Runaan said as he got up. “Thank you for your council”


	8. Finding a way out

The days that followed were hard for both Callum and Rayla. Both unsure what to do. Rayla had gone home, and would not be able to come back to Callum. Callum didn’t even know where Rayla lived. After the first few months they were slowly able to cope with the loss, but would always miss their friend.

“Rayla,” Ethari had just entered Rayla’s room “Runaan and I need to take care of some business in the next few weeks.”

“oh?”

“Merida will take care of you until we are back”

“oh….”

“don’t run off, please”

“how long will you be gone for?”

“3 weeks, maybe even longer”

 _3 weeks, that would mean I could visit Callum_ Rayla tried really hard not to smile. Ethari could not discover her plan.

“Runaan and I are going to pack our stuff soon, and then we will bring you to Merida”

_I need to find a way out the village_

“can I say goodbye when you leave?” Rayla was hoping she could use the moment to sneak past the barrier

“sure, you can come say goodbye”

Ethari got up again, putting a kiss on Rayla’s forehead.

Runaan and Ethari had put all their supplies in the saddle bags of the shadow paws when Rayla went up to say goodbye. They were in the right spot, right next to the barrier. Everything was falling in to plan. It might have been too easy.

She grabbed Runaan hand as she said her goodbyes, secretly putting a foot across the barrier. When they were finally out of sight. She took another step past the barrier.

“we should go Rayla” Merida called out.

“okay, I’ll come” Rayla said as she turned around, but she didn’t move. Then, Merida started to walk back to her house. _This is it_ Rayla thought, _I can **f**_ _ **inally** __visit Callum!_

She ran as fast as she could, using the moon to navigate west. To Katolis, to Callum!

* * *

_Tap tap_

Callum looked up. _What was that?_

_Tap tap._

Someone was knocking on his window, but he couldn’t see who. He had already closed the curtains.

_Tap tap_

He got out of his bed and walked over to the window, pulling away the curtains. And opening the window.

“Rayla!?”

“Callum!” she yelled as she gave him a hug.

“Rayla, what are you doing here?”

“I sneaked out of the village, I wanted to see you”

“thanks” was the only thing he could say as he pulled her into another hug.

“mom has been dating someone, I might get a new dad”

“really? Have you met him?”

“no, but from what mom says he is a nice guy, that would take good care of me.”

“he better, if I hear someone is not treating you good I’m coming for them.”

‘you think you can beat my new father?”

“I’m training to be an assassin at the Silvergrove.”

“oh, why?”

“so I can sneak away more to you”

“what is going on in…. Rayla?”

Rayla looked over at the door, seeing a surprised Serai.

“Rayla why are you here?”

“I wanted to see Callum, I missed him”

“are you hungry? How did you get here”

“yeah, I came her alone. Nobody could know”

“oh sweetheart. I’ll get you some fruits, you don’t really like bread do you?”

“I don’t get how you humans like bread that much” Rayla giggled.

After Rayla had eaten some apples Serai made her comfortable on the living room couch, it was almost midnight already, and Rayla had just made a long journey to here.

* * *

The next morning Callum showed Rayla some of the drawings he had made while she was gone. Some of them were of her. smiling at him, running after a bird or standing proudly on a rock. But there was one that caught her attention. It was a drawing of her in Callum’s arms.

“what is this one?” she asked him

“its from the evening of the winter solstice, when you didn’t want to go home”

“and you drew it?”

“yeah, to remind me how strong you where”

“then why draw me like this?”

“what do you mean?”

“I’m crying here”

“yeah, so?”

“I, I’m at my weakest here”

Callum laughed a bit.

“no, you’re not,” he said, “this is probably the strongest I have seen you”

“eh.. what? I’m literally crying here.”

“yeah, you are being vulnerable, asking others for help. That might look like a weakness to the weak, but the strong know that you shouldn’t just stomp down all your emotions. Sometimes you just need a good cry”

She did, she realized as tears started rolling down her cheeks. But this time they were of happiness. It all came out when Callum pulled her in to a hug.

“I missed you, every day” she said

“I really missed you to, you should do this more often”

“I can try, but I was lucky that I could get out of the village”

“why?”

“I tried to run away so many times the first few days that the illusion to protect the village also acts like a barrier to me. I can only leave together with Runaan or Ethari”

“they made you a prisoner in your own village!?”

“yeah, but I guess they have a good reason. Otherwise I would just go live here with you”

“I would like that, but I don’t think you can. Your parents are quite strict”

“yeah, I can be here for 2 more days, then I should head back. My dads left for a while, but it’s a long journey”

“I’m coming with you, at least until the border”

“thanks Callum”

* * *

When it was time for Rayla to go back home, Callum and Serai went with her. Making sure she arrived safely at the border.

“how did you get across the border in the first place?” Callum asked

“I walked across”

“how, the entire border is a huge river of lava”

“there is a little secret pathway, used in the war by moonshadow assassins. I learned about it at school”

“you mean the breach? The bit under the lavafall?”

“no, the moonstone path. It’s a path of floating rocks, the ones that won’t sink as quickly have runes on them that glow in the moonlight”

“and what happens if you step on the wrong stone?”

“you fall in to the river, and you’re dead”

The amount of casualty in Rayla’s voice shocked Callum. Almost if she didn’t care to die.

“we’re bringing you to the breach right now” Serai said. “it’s a lot safer”

Once they reached the breach, there wasn’t much trouble that Rayla didn’t have her papers with her, because she was entering Xadia as an elf. With the blessing of the general of Katolis.

“goodbye Callum, I’ll miss you”

“I’ll miss you to, but you’re always welcome. You should know that”

“thanks.” Rayla tried to smile “hopefully we’ll see each other again”


	9. Where is he?

When she looked through his window, she saw a little girl playing with some dolls. Had it been that long? How long does it take for humans to have a kid? Rayla did remember Callum talking about his mom dating someone. The door of Callum’s room opened. But no Callum or Sarai, instead there was this young lady, a few years younger than Sarai, that entered the room.

“Come on Rosa, dad is waiting on us, dinner’s ready”

_ Callum isn’t here  _ Rayla realized. Hanging down her shoulders. Would she ask the lady if she knew where Callum lived now?

While she was distracted by her thoughts, she didn’t realize a large cloud was covering the full moon, pulling her out of her Moonshadow form. The woman looked shocked at the window.

_ Shit, she sees me _

Rayla didn’t know what to do

“Eh, who are you?” the woman asked.

“I’m Rayla…. , I’m looking for my friend, he used to live here”

“Was this his house? Or just in the area?”

“This was his house”

“What was his name?”

Rayla didn’t know if she should trust this woman, but there was no other way of finding out where Callum was.

“Callum”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think you will be able to see him anymore”

“Why”

“His mother, Sarai, married the king”

“She WHAT?”

“She married the King, they moved into the castle, freeing up this house for us. Elves aren’t allowed at the castle without an invitation”

“I’m going to try anyway, let’s just hope there won’t be any more clouds blocking the moon”

“Can I know why?”

“I’m a Moonshadow, I can turn invisible when the moon is full, but it can’t be obstructed.”

“Ah, well good luck”

“Thanks”

* * *

It had been a nice evening. Callum had been drawing in his room and she and Harrow just had a nice cup of tea and a lot of jelly tarts. Harrow was a nice man, to her it didn’t matter he was the king. She loved him for who he was. He had taken in Callum with open arms, giving him a warm welcome to the castle that might have been a bit big for Callum. But he wouldn’t be alone, not for long. He was getting a baby brother. Harrow had let Callum decide on the name. Ezran is what he settled for.

She had put Callum to bed maybe an hour ago and was feeling sleepy herself, so she and Harrow were making their way over to their room. When they entered the room nothing seemed off, but she had a feeling that there was someone close. Harrow felt it too, the feeling becoming stronger as they walked towards the balcony looking over the castle.

There was a weird smudge hovering in the air, it was hard to explain, but it was there.

Harrow pulled his sword out and went over to the smudge.

When he got closer he realized it was drawing something. a map of the castle. He heard it mumbling.

“he… there. Those…. .. .. .. .horses …. . .. … …. That’s the blacksmith”

_ “What was it talking about”  _ he thought while sneaking closer.

“Where could he be. This castle is huge”

Sarai started walking towards the smudge as well.

“Rayla?” she asked carefully.

“Sarai?” Rayla said, as she turned around and left her Moonshadow form.

“You shouldn’t be here, if anyone found you, you would be dead.”

“I was trying to be careful”

“Can I interrupt?” Harrow asked, “How do you two know each other, and why are you here?”

“I’m Callum’s friend, and I wanted to see him”

Harrow was not really convinced, but Sarai trusted her.

“Callum is already sleeping,” Sarai said. “you can stay here for tonight, but it’s dangerous for you to be here”

“I don’t care, I wanna see Callum”

“You can see him tomorrow morning, you can sleep in our room to be safe. Okay?”

“Okay,” Rayla said disappointed.

“So queen is now a higher rank than king?” Harrow joked

“She is a sweet girl, the only friend Callum ever had. Do this for him”

“Fine, but you will get your own bed, princess Rayla”

“Thank you, but please never call me princess again”

* * *

Callum had no idea what happened last night, so waking up to a very excited Rayla jumping on his bed was a pleasant surprise.

“Rayla.. what are you doing here?” Callum said, still half asleep.

“I wanted to see you, dummy. I missed you”

“Let’s get breakfast,” Sarai said

Callum sat up straight and put on his normal clothes, adding the scarf he got form king Harrow as a welcoming gift.

“How did you find us?” Callum asked as they walked out of his room.

“There was this woman at your old house, who said your mom had married the king, and that you moved to here.” Rayla said while smiling, “Does this mean you’re a prince now?”

“Yeah, the step-prince”

“Does that still make you your dads successor?”

“Yeah, right now I am King Harrow’s successor, but as soon as Ezran is born, he is”

“Ezran?”

“Mom’s pregnant”

“Really? Maybe he could be our new friend”

“I’m sure he wil be,” Sarai said as they entered the dining hall.

“Its all so big here” Rayla noted, “even I could probably get lost in here”

“Don’t try it, I like having you around”

Callum sat down opposite his mom, with Rayla sitting next to Callum and Harrow next to Sarai.

“I still don’t get it,” Rayla broke the silence, “Why do you humans like bread this much? Like, I get that you would want some consistency in your food. But why stale dry bread?”

“I dunno… I guess it’s easy to make a lot of” Callum answered, “And it tastes good with a lot of different things, maybe?”

“You don’t know why you like the thing you eat most? I mean, with us and moonberries there is at least the explanation of that they have a lot of the necessary vitamins and stuff”

“Well, if you really want an explanation, it’s because we’re humans, doing stupid things is kinda all we do”

* * *

Rayla couldn’t stay long, but this time Sarai and Harrow gave the kids all the time they needed to say their goodbye’s. Rayla wasn’t safe in the castle, with all the guards with weapons walking around. It would take only one anti-elf person to kill her, and he would fit in quite easily. Rayla was given a permit by Harrow, so she could always enter Katolis, and send letters to the castle. She couldn’t send them from the Silvergrove, as mail wasn’t sent to the human kingdoms.

“So if I want to come again, I have to send you a letter, then wait for a reply saying you got the first letter?”

Harrow knelt down in front of her, so he was at eye level. “Yes, we will make sure that there are fewer guards to minimalize the risk”

“Sounds weird, reducing the guards for safety”

“It is a bit strange, yes, but I think it’s the best course of action”

“Thank you, King Harrow,” Rayla said, bowing.

“Hey, I’m not  **your** king, its just Harrow for you”

“Oh, okay”

“Be safe Rayla, and hopefully we will see each other again”

“I’ll try”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm gonna be adding to and polishing the first 9 chapters first. i don't really know when i'll start on chapter 10 tbh.


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